


No Wonder

by Maimat



Series: Hunting and Gathering [4]
Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-03
Updated: 2012-07-03
Packaged: 2017-11-09 03:11:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/450609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maimat/pseuds/Maimat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All of them, herself included stood back and watched Daryl crumble. Andrea's thoughts about Daryl while at the Quarry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Wonder

**Author's Note:**

> Is part of Hunting and Gathering series- unrelated/possibly related short stories under 1500 words.

Andrea was there when Shane and Rick told Daryl about what happened to Merle. All of them, herself included stood back and watched Daryl crumble. She didn't know what Rick thought was going to happen after telling the man they'd abandoned his brother on a roof of a building overrun with geeks.

And the trouble was Rick somehow managed to deliver the news with the least amount of empathy possible.

No wonder Daryl threw squirrels at him.

Everyone knew Merle was a jerk. On that roof Merle was dangerous. They were all better off without Merle. But it was equally obvious that Daryl felt differently. She couldn't even begin to guess at the complexity of relationship between Merle and Daryl Dixon. Truth was none of them knew Daryl very well because he didn't stick around camp much. He sat around the camp fire at night sometimes, mostly not saying anything, but he never bothered anyone the way his brother did.

Though there were a few times…

He'd blown up at Ed about something a few days back. The way Andrea recalled it was about something like Daryl accusing Ed of insulting his squirrels. Which sounded really stupid in hindsight, but she suspected it had less to do about squirrels and more about picking a fight.

_"What you saying?" Daryl got up from skinning another squirrel. None of them in camp was ever going to look at squirrels the same way again. Ever. Not that anyone complained about having fresh meat in their stews and soup. Except for Ed apparently._

_Ed frowned but stayed in his lawn chair in front of his tent. He took another puff on his cigarette and exhaled slowly._

_Daryl looked back briefly at his brother then back at Ed. "Well? Ya got something to say? Say it."_

_Merle laughed. "He said he's tired of eating rats for supper."_

_Daryl kept his eyes on Ed. "That what you said? You couldn't say that yourself? You got a mouth don't ya? Why don't you use it?"_

_Nothing happened. Ed grunted something about it not being worth it, then suddenly remembered it was his turn to take watch on top of the RV._

_Daryl watched him go, and sat back down with Merle and picked up the squirrel he'd been working on. "Prick. I'd like to see him try and bring back anything worthwhile out of these damn hills."_

Another incident Andrea remembered clearly was with his brother. She didn't catch the first part of the argument and only overheard what was going on as she was walking back up from the lake.

_"You don't know that." Daryl shouted at Merle right after breakfast._

_"Calling me a liar, boy?" Merle shot back._

_"You know you are. There ain't no way you know anything about that." Daryl answered. They were both on their feet. Daryl paced. Five steps left, five steps right, all the time eyeing his brother suspiciously. Merle on the other hand stood absolutely still._

_When Merle struck, Daryl went down like he'd been hit by a bus. One second he was still pacing, calling his brother a liar, and the next he was on the ground, with Merle standing over him._

_"You gonna call me a liar again?"_

_Daryl stayed on the ground and glared up at his brother. The anger seemed to have gone out of him but his voice was calm and resolute. "You don't know shit."_

_Merle stepped forwards and kicked Daryl full in the stomach. Daryl curled up and coughed, trying to catch his breath. Merle sat back down and put his legs up on the cooler box they used as a table and didn't even bother to look when Daryl did get back up and grabbed his crossbow, disappearing down the path into the woods._

And then there was Shane. Shane who took charge of the camp for lack of anyone else standing up to do so. None of these people were prepared for the extent of what was happening to them, and almost everyone seemed to be content with the little bit of stability that someone with authority telling them what to do seemed to give.

The Dixon brothers were the exception. Merle tended to just ignore it, and Shane seemed content enough to let it slide without making an issue of it. Where Daryl was concerned, however, Shane took a slightly different approach.

_Shane grabbed Daryl's arm as he passed. "We need you to help with watch today."_

_Daryl looked at Shane's hand on his arm, but didn't move. "So I can sit on top a RV and pick my nose with Ed? I'm going hunting."_

_"Everyone takes watch and you can help out just like everyone else. It's about time for you to do what you're asked to do rather than what you want."_

_"You're just as lost out here as all these other people. Go have your pissing contest with someone else. I do my part here, ain't no one can say different." Daryl challenged._

_Shane swung him around to face the rest of the camp. "If it's between staying alive or eating squirrel for supper again, staying alive would be my choice."_

_"Get your hands off me." Daryl yelled and somehow managed to twist and get out of Shane's hold. He did some kind of a backwards skip then pointed at Shane. "You ever lay your hands on me again and we won't be talking."_

_Merle laughed and clapped his hands from where he sat. "Way to go Darlena, I always knew you were a pussy."_

_Daryl grabbed his crossbow as he passed by, not saying a word._

It was later that day Merle decided to volunteer to be part of the scavenging party.


End file.
